GirlBoss | Troy Washington Shares The Biggest Career Mistakes She Made In Her 20s

From choosing love over our career goals to not negotiating, there are so many career mistakes that young women make.

When we are in our 20s, we are at a very vulnerable state in our lives. For some of us, we just finished college, are working at our first “real” jobs, and we are even starting families. Through the midst of it all, we tend to make simple mistakes as it relates to our careers.

Recently, I was able to connect with a few girlbosses in various careers and personal backgrounds. Each woman shared their biggest career mistake and what they learned from it. Whether you are a graduating college senior, just starting out on your own, or a 20-something woman that is already working, you will be able to benefit from the wisdom of each of the girlbosses below. Each woman shared her own career mistake and how they’ve managed to get in formation.

I vowed that I would keep this mistake between myself and the reporter who found me bawling my eyes out in the restroom but if it helps someone else out in their career then I suppose the embarrassment is worth it. It took a nightmare live shot during the evening news to teach me that you shouldn’t depend on technology. No matter how confident you are in your smartphone, keep a backup plan!

I was reporting live on a complicated story, the anchor tossed my phone to me and my iPhone cancelled out of my notes. I spent the entire shot stumbling and trying to open the note in my phone. Finally to no avail I tossed the phone back to the anchors feeling defeated. To top it off a viewer came up to me right after and said “got a little tongue tied there at 5.” I was mortified. Now no matter how simple or complex the story is I don’t complicate things or depend on anything else. I rely on old fashioned pen, pad, bullet points, and what I know. This taught me to trust myself instead of a flimsy note in my phone.

Believe it or not that moment built my confidence because I knew I could never repeat that mistake. In essence falling on my face has always delivered the best lessons. That was one of my first live shots and I’ve done hundreds more since then but I’ll never forget that one. That’s the one that humbled me, it hurt, and taught me that I never wanted to experience it again. In TV, you’ll make mistakes and that’s inevitable because you’re human and likely those mistakes will be broadcasted, but as long as you don’t repeat those mistakes, you’ll be fine.